Mika

I want to share my love for this place, too! <3 I joined two years ago, on a whim, while I was on a high from having just seen a Rush show from the Time Machine tour. I was delighted to see so many people that have so much appreciation for Rush, like me! I feel lucky to have been able to partake in such subjects as whether Vapor Trails is good (it's good! Oops, hang on, bf is home........

Ack! I just re-read this and it sound like I'm agreeing with being negative about the reviews! I'm not! I'm agreeing about the book having a negative-sounding voice regarding the reviews, which I don't like. Phew. Don't want anyone to think I'm hating on the albums! :( ;)

I have to admit that the only reason I'm remotely interested in baseball is if I catch a glimpse of a Blue Jays game and keep my fingers crossed to catch a glimpse of Geddy. I'm just not into baseball, but I would probably watch an entire game IF Geddy was sitting behind the home plate. :P

I honestly have no idea if there will be another Rush album.... I think CA would be pretty tough to top, and in the long run (or fullness of time, if you will), it would be a pretty fantastic album to be 'the last one', with 'The Garden' as kind of an ultimate swan song. The boys need some rest, though they're in a bit of a tough spot: they could keep going on the roll that they're on, starting with 'Beyond the Lighted Stage' and continuing with the RRHoF and the successful tour that just ended, or they can take some time out and risk not making the most of their limelight right now. I'm afraid that with time off, and with being on such a night note right now, this might be the end. Unoficially, of course, but I think Rush would want to end on top, and this is about as on top as I think they're going to be! So, I would be thrilled with any music they end up making down the road. I hope they don't try to top CA to the degree that they fall short of their own high expectations, though. Anyway, I'm making myself sad, thinking about a future with no new Rush songs, so I'll be quiet now. And maybe for most likely thing they will do in the future, musically, is release another compilation - not an instrumental one, I think - with a couple of new songs on it, which might be more in the power trio kind of vein. Lots of guitar, bass, and drums.

Another mention for my recent-made appreciation for 'YYZ'. I was listening to a version last night, a recording of a Rush dress rehearsal before the opening date on the Test for Echo tour, and it was really good. At the beginning, there's a part where Alex jumps to the next part too early, and he stops while Geddy keeps laying down the proper bass part, and then Alex jumps back in a few bars later. It's fun to hear a goof-up, yes, but it brings to light how complex this song is, and how much awesome bass-ness there is in it. I used to think it was kind of a boring song - too much mathematical precision. Now I hear the small, awesome bass solos sprinkled throughout, the whipping sound of the drums, the intense, rollicking groove. And having watched this song be performed live, when I hear it now I can picture the boys just rocking out to it while playing it, and the crowd's energetic reaction. :)

I love Neil's facial reaction when he's being introduced! I wonder if Alex thought up who he would introduce the guys as beforehand, or if it was totally all on-the-fly. And I thought it was Sparky Anderson, but then I don't know this person is, anyway! :P Sparky Anderson, former Detroit Tigers manager. Ted Nugent, native of Michigan. I think Alex introduced himself as Lee Iacocca. And Lee Iacocca was the head of Chrysler or something, I think, so all Michigan-related names. Never noticed that before - to me they were just names! I recognized Ted Nugent, but figured the other two were made up on-the-fly!

The About page should be up later today and it says, "While I did post a list of especially sought-after criteria, I do not wish to leave behind the dedicated fan that doesn't meet these criteria. If Rush has affected your life in such a profound way that you want to put it into words, by all means, please do so. This is not a competition." That's great! I don't like the idea of fan competition - each and every person that enjoys Rush has his own story, and there are many people that will have interesting stories because they haven't done the more cliched fan things, if that makes sense! Though not to say that the above-mentioned things are cliched, or to offer judgement on such things - merely that we each have our own fan stories, each and every one of us here on TRF, from the 12-year-old that has grown up with Rush all his life to the 60-year-old that has literally grown up with Rush through the years. I'm excited to read about some of these stories! :)

A fun idea in theory, but in actuality: no. Rush would never submit to having others choose their setlist, and there'd be way too much messiness involving lighting and videos and all the things that make a Rush show a Rush show. But would I love a chance to contribute choices to a setlist? You bet! But would the majority of concert-goers (hardcore and casual fans alike) approve of my choices? Nope. I don't think everyone else would have such a zen to hear 'Everyday Glory' and 'How It Is'! :P Something that is kind of a teeny bit similar in idea to this is that Rush song petition, where fans can vote on a song that hasn't been played in a while or ever to hopefully be picked up by the band. I don't know how much this is regarded, but I think 'Middletown Dreams' was one of the most requested songs, and it was brought to life on this tour, so you never know. Next tour should see 'Cut to the Chase'! :)

I love Neil's facial reaction when he's being introduced! I wonder if Alex thought up who he would introduce the guys as beforehand, or if it was totally all on-the-fly. And I thought it was Sparky Anderson, but then I don't know this person is, anyway! :P

I saw this last night, and thought, "Hey, cool! Rush fans can share their stories!" but then I saw that emphasis is being placed on those that have seen the band multiple times in the same tour, have acquired rare concert mercandise, have met the band / stage crew, have attended RushCon, have Rush tattoos, have named kids Rushy names, have been in a Rush tribute band.... I can't say 'yes' to any of these things, but maybe I have something interesting and worthy to say, anyway, so I might give it a shot! I feel a bit weird that I don't seem to qualify as an 'uberfan', but I think it's all relative, anyway. I am confident in my own personal level of fanness! :P

Thanks for sharing that! Always fun to watch Geddy being a bass god. And never hurts when he's in a tank top. (Though they're not called 'tank tops' for guys, are they? What are they called - wife beaters or something?) I think wife beaters are those white undershirts with no sleeves. 'Sleeveless top', then, maybe. Whatever they're called, Geddy rocked his in that video clip! :)

Thanks for sharing that! Always fun to watch Geddy being a bass god. And never hurts when he's in a tank top. (Though they're not called 'tank tops' for guys, are they? What are they called - wife beaters or something?)

I'd never heard that before (and I've checked out a few things from MITA)... that was kind of creepy!

Sorry, but I'm a little bit of a Grammar Nazi. It would be a Quadrilogy as there are four parts. Tri=3 One of the little quirky things that endear Rush to me!: 'Freeze' being labelled as "part IV of fear trilogy". So, because Rush is calling their quartet of songs a trilogy, who am I to argue? ;) And isn't 'Where's My Thing?' part IV of the Gangster of Boats trilogy or something-or-other?

I'd love for the boys to play the 'Fear' triology! Yeah, 'Witch Hunt' has had its moment of glory recently, but the whole set would be great. Especially with 'Freeze'. What a monster song. I do hope that with the re-release of Vapor Trails any forthcoming tour would be keener on VT songs... there are so many good ones just waiting for a chance to shine! And I would just die of happiness if 'How It Is' got cracked out.

I was just listening to a live version of 'Animate', and at the end Alex is given an opportunity to say 'hello' to the crowd, which he then does in his off-the-wall, silly, funny way. He certainly seems to have a silly sense of humour! Geddy has always had the job of talking to the crowd - except for way back when it seemed John Rutsey did it. While I enjoy Geddy doing it (never thought I'd ever use that phrase), I wonder what it would be like if Alex was the one that interacted with his Rush denizens? I wonder what kind of silly things he would end up saying? Or would he not be silly - maybe his silliness is best left for opportune (and inopportune) moments of his choosing during the show. Geddy has often introduced 'Red Barchetta' as, "This is a song about a car. 'Red Barchetta'." (and this tour, introducing 'The Analog Kid' as, "This is a song about a kid. 'The Analog Kid'.") I wonder how Alex would introduce this? "This is a song about a car, a red car, and speaking of cars, I was driving the other day, and this guy cut me off, and we pulled over, and I got so mad that I wanted to tear off his ears. No, I'm just kidding - he saw my guitars in the back and asked if I played music, and I said I was in this band, and he said cool, and then he saw the Rush logo on a guitar case, and he got all excited and asked if I could get Geddy's autograph for him. And then I punched him in the nose." And that would be the cue for the start of 'Red Barchetta'. I wonder.... And bonus points for anyone that got the 'tearing off ears' and 'punching in nose' reference!

Big Al sez: That's the spirit, Gangster! Anyway,%20if%20you%20girls%20need%20me%20Ihttp://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/or16ann_074.jpg Mmmmm Alex is that a roll of quarters or are you just happy to see me? :drool: You made me look!

From what you've said about the concert, what with Geddy tearing up during 'The Garden', perhaps he didn't respond to you because he was too emotional. I love the picture of you with the license plate! Thanks for the compliment! Geddy saw the plate in both Salt Lake and in Denver, not in Kansas City. I had to bolt it back onto the car so that my husband could drive back to California from Denver while I flew out to KC. :( I ended up finding a pen and piece of paper in my purse during 2112 in Denver and I wrote "ALEX" on it, covered up Geddy's name on my plate and got a 1,000,000 megawat smile and belly laugh from Alex. I think he's my new man now. We have theories though. Geddy isn't used to as much female attention and didn't know how to react. I look like I'm about... 25 according to most people so maybe it creeped him out. Or the fact that my husband was next to me was weird. Or YYZ is still really hard to play. Or... he looked down and saw my chunky ass and belly fat, my snaggle tooth, and my now burgundy hair and was like "honey.... please". All those reasons except that last one, gangster! Geddy would totally not be noticing unnoticable things like belly fat! He would be noticing your gorgeous, happy grin! You look so happy in that Rush.com photo, and I'm happy that you have a moment in time preserved forever this way. I like your idea of changing the name to 'Alex', though, and am glad you got a great reaction! :) I think maybe Geddy is less comfortable with this kind of stuff - females adoring him. I think Alex takes it all in stride much better.

This is my favourite sentence - it made me giggle!: "...everybody playing air telegraph to the main riff [of 'YYZ']" Air telegraph.

VIP, huh... These packages involve seats from rows 1 to 15, right? Without knowing where you're going to be until very close to the show? I was on the second of the five pre-sale ticket sites (the first was for AmEx, which I don't have), and at the stroke of the hour, the best I could go was 14th row, which isn't bad, but how do the first 14 rows get sold out so dang fast? Maybe next time (fingers crossed for a next time!) I will try the VIP route, and see what happens. And I will make sure to call in sick at work that day, because only luck and circumstances have made me available for pre-sales so far! :P And, yeah, 300 dollars would be worth it to be able to snag the first couple of rows to be able to watch the boys in action, and be able to interact with them a little, with a little eye contact and such! :)

I just noticed - in the second picture - that with his hair tied back, it really brings out his neck! He has a nice neck. Compare with the photo with Alex, whose neck doesn't appear nearly as necky as Geddy's. And I imagine that Geddy must likely have his hair in a pony tail a lot, when he's not being 'Geddy Lee of Rush' - all that hair hanging around must actually be a bit annoying sometimes. I wonder if he will ever decide to chop it off. Well, probably not - his hair is tied so much in his image, and as long as there's Rush, he will probably keep his image. He will probably let it go grey before he would cut it off. But maybe in 10 years or so, if Rush has kind of called it quits, he might decide to cut it if he's no longer in the Rush limelight.... Hmm, but then, maybe not. He's had bascially the same hairstyle for the past 22 years now, and it fits him very well, and I don't think he would be comfortable with short hair! Anyway. Nothing like a little expounding on Geddy's hair! :) And neck, for that matter!

choo choo? Not choo choo, more like a enthusiastic porn star .................... .................... .................... You're talking about Geddy's mom being like a porn star?

That is really cool! I love stuff like this! :)

This shirt? http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/images/concerts/rush-kansas-city-08.04.2013/32.jpg It's Geddy, all fancied up in photoshop or whatever to look like all afro-y and different! Not to mention, cool! Wasn't this picture in the tour guide along with ones of Alex and Neil, they all were a little strange looking. I would say this is what Dirk would look like IMHO http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/images/tourbooks/clockwork-angels/clockwork-angels-75-s.jpg

I was looking for a particular photo, and came across this from 2008, and thought I'd share! It's not often we get to see modern Geddy with a pony tail! http://imgsrv.kgon.com/image/kgon/UserFiles/Image/AlexGeddy08.JPG http://imgsrv.kgon.com/image/kgon/UserFiles/Image/geddykeyboard08.JPG